knitting, greyhounds, roller derby, life, Crossfit, eat clean

Exciting Times

Thank you all for your kind words and comments about Apollo’s passing. We are so thankful that his last moments were full of happiness and joy and that he went very quickly. He truly didn’t experience any pain or suffer in any way.

I had an extremely busy weekend at the roller derby boot camp on the long weekend, then (another) hectic work week as well as derby week. The big fella had planned to attend our greyhound adoption group’s annual fundraising picnic on last Saturday. At the same time, I was driving about 6 hours in the opposite direction with my derby team to go to our debut bout!

What a crazy weekend! It was a lot of fun, and while we lost, we did so by a very close margin of only 10 points. (In roller derby, you can make 10 points in about 25 seconds of playing time).

I can balance on one toe stop! (not really, I bit the track immediately after this)

I don’t know if it will work to link to the photographer’s Facebook page, but try this link.

Terri O’Scary

It was stifling hot in there, we didn’t put our bout face paint on because it would have sweated off right away, even with the “fixer”.

skating hard to try to help my jammer

We played a close game. There was never one point where we or they were ahead by a ton of points. It was such a great playing experience and our team did very good for our first official/ranked bout. We also have a lot of things to work on, practice and improve.

doing the rounds at the end

After the bout, we headed out to the after party. Both teams joined together – it was also a lot of fun and I didn’t get back to my hotel room until after 3 a.m. Then the next morning we had to drive back from Estevan.

Meanwhile, the big fella was in Edmonton for the greyhound picnic. He and Ava headed out Friday morning and were ready to go from their hotel early Saturday morning. They had a beautiful day there as well. We had been talking to our greyhound peeps and there were three hounds that were currently looking for a forever home.

While we are still mourning our big boy’s passing, we thought the best tribute we could give him is to give another hound a forever home. We have a hole in our hearts, but we still have room for another pooper. Ava was pretty forlorn without her Apollo and we knew we’d get another hound before too long. Instead of waiting a few weeks or a month and having to make another weekend trip to Edmonton, we decided to go ahead with it on the picnic weekend. As long as Ava approved!

San Tan Rufus

Welcome home, Rufus! This little boy is 3 years old and raced 44 races in Alabama. He came up to Canada in July. There were two other hounds for Ava’s approval, but she had an affinity with him. So the big fella left the picnic with him!

cheek to cheek

He’s quite funny – very playful and goofy. I’ve taken to calling him Goofy Rufie. His ears are adorable – they both flop over his head and point left, like “he went thataway>>”. I’ll try to get a pic soon.

He weighs about 73 pounds, so much slighter than Apollo. He’s all muscle though – quads of steel! Sizewise, he’s probably similar to Sabrina, but maybe 5 pounds heavier. His coat is so soft, but very sleek like Sabrina’s was, not thick like Apollo’s.

The big fella and the poopers got home about 4 pm on Sunday and I rolled in about an hour later. Sunday night Rufus was a little unsettled during the night, but we expected that. He had been crated overnight at the foster home, but we decided to try without. He slept most of the night in my office and asked to go out a couple of times. I think he was a little stressed from the excitement of the picnic, the long drive back and just the new environment.

He’s ridiculously curious about everything; he kept wanting to go downstairs, so we took him down and he sniffed and poked his nose into every possible nook and cranny. He’s really fast to get to the door, so we have a baby gate at the top of the stairs so he can’t rush the front door. We’ll keep it up until his curiosity fades.

He is also very playful and all the toys that haven’t been played with since Sabrina died are getting a workout. He will go nuts after his morning walk for about 20 minutes. This morning in addition to dragging all the toys from the living room into my office (and then back again) he retrieved a milk carton from the recycling bin and pranced around with it, got nose to nose with Ava which resulted in her barking at him, so he barked back. Repeatedly. Ha! Then he stood up with his paws on the kitchen counter to check things out. Then he pulled the living room beds amok, and also dragged out the bathmat and killed it for good measure. Then he collapsed in my office for a solid three hour nap. He’s hilarious.

Congratulations on your new Pooper – San Tan Rufus! I am glad that Ava had a chance to “pick her new friend”. Hope all will be well with your new “goofball” and that he will settle in seamlessly. Give big hugs from me to both Poopers. 🙂

Aww, congratulations on Rufus! He sounds like a rascal and they are fun! I’m so glad Ava picked him out and I’m sure she feels better with her gentleman. Can’t wait to see more pics and hear more stories.

I’m so glad that Ava now has another brother and that she found another to love at the picnic. She seemed to me to be the type that needs other canine companions. Hope these two will help you and the big guy fill the hole in your hearts left by Sabrina and Apollo’s passing. I’m grateful that you two are so willing to open your home and hearts to give loving homes to greyhounds in need. Bless you.